1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to automatic gain control (AGC) at the RF front-end of a wireless communication system. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a system and a method to implement smart AGC at the RF front-end of a multi-standard wireless transceiver.
2. Related Art
Traditional wireless communication systems are usually designed for a specific standard, such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), WiFi, LTE (Long Term Evolution), etc., just to name a few. Current demand for the convergence of wireless services, in which users can access different standards from the same wireless device, is driving the development of multi-standard and multi-band transceivers, which are capable of transmitting/receiving radio signals in the entire wireless communication spectrum (most are in a frequency range from 300 MHz to 3 GHz).
The multi-standard requirement means that the RF front-end (the circuitry between the antenna and the digital baseband stage) needs to provide flexible automatic gain control (AGC) that can optimally adjust amplifier gains for the different standards.